TV SPORTS

TV SPORTS; A Competent CBS Needed McGuire

By Richard Sandomir

Published: March 31, 1998

Throughout Jim Nantz's and Billy Packer's call of Kentucky's 78-69 victory over Utah last night, the only thing missing was Al McGuire. Nantz and Packer did their jobs more than adequately: Nantz set the table for Packer, who adroitly analyzed the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship game as if he were the 11th player on the floor.

Packer faulted Kentucky for not playing an effective low-post game, quickly noted Utah's growing second-half fatigue, deftly pointed out the strengths and weaknesses of various lineups tried out by Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith and described how Utah maintained a wide edge in rebounding.

Nantz, far more at ease than during his Winter Olympics gig, wove in anecdotes about players without slowing down his call of the game.

(Strangely, in the ultimate game, no one described how Tubby, the skinny coach of the twosome in San Antonio, acquired his nickname.)

Yet, there was something robotic, even icy, about their joint effort. The addition of McGuire as the third commentator (as he was with Packer and Dick Enberg on NBC for many years) would surely have remedied that problem, by injecting his instinctive lunacy, deft strategic feel for the sport and perspective on Rick Majerus, the Utah coach, who served as McGuire's assistant when Marquette won the tournament in 1977. Surely, McGuire would have had a singular take on Majerus wearing the same sweater to all the Utes' games.

Perhaps the most poignant interview throughout CBS's tournament coverage was McGuire's with Majerus on Saturday when Majerus choked up, speechless, after McGuire brought up how proud the coach's late father would have been of his son.

Of course, McGuire also said, ''We used to call him whitey,'' which caused Greg Gumbel, CBS's studio show host, to say, ''You can call him whitey.''

During the second half, there was a disjointed colloquy between Nantz and Packer about the late Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp. First Nantz mentioned the death of Rupp's wife at age 95 on Sunday, which led Packer to extol Rupp's record. Shortly after, Nantz mentioned how Smith, who is black, had taken the seat at Kentucky's bench that was formerly Rupp's, which ''some people thought they'd never see.'' But Packer ignored the obvious opening regarding Rupp's legacy of discrimination and kept extolling Rupp's achievements.

Nantz returned once more to the subject, noting the ''attention paid this year to a black coach at Kentucky,'' and Packer replied by noting how the mostly African-American Texas Western team that beat Rupp's all-white Wildcats in the 1966 tournament final had beaten Utah to make it to the ultimate game.

Packer's only concession to discussing the well-documented race issue at Kentucky came with his praise of C. M. Newton, Kentucky's athletic director, for fostering racial harmony at the school by hiring Smith, ''his only choice.''

Other points:

*CBS's production crew correctly kept its lenses on the game, not showing knee-jerk reaction shots of coaches, family and friends at every chance. But there were coaches' shots -- and it was a game won by Majerus, who was seen 36 times in close-ups, to Smith's 28. There were only five family shots. Repeatedly, the camera mounted behind the backboards revealed action nicely.

*Dean Smith may have seemed more comfortable out of CBS's New York studio and inside the Alamodome, but he is too gentle and understated to be a provocative analyst. He made some sharp points, some obvious points and echoed some made by Clark Kellogg, who needs space to say more. Kellogg is provocative, and while he has said he doesn't chafe at limited time, it would be great to find him more.

A Tournament Bargain

Last night's game ended CBS's fourth in an eight-year, $1.725 billion deal with the N.C.A.A. That's an average $215 million a year. CBS has always boasted of the deal as a great one, because it locks up a marquee event that people are riveted to. But if that's a great deal, what should one call ESPN's women's tournament deal? ESPN has a $19 million, seven-year deal, or a mere $2.7 million a year, which is about what ABC will pay this season for 18 minutes of a single ''Monday Night Football'' game.

Is the women's tournament really worth one-90th of the men's despite the event's higher-than-ever profile fostered in large part by three consecutive titles won by Tennessee's Lady Vols?

No, it just makes ESPN a little smart and a little lucky to have augmented its previous tournament coverage by telecasting the semifinal and final games when CBS opted out.

''At the time we made the deal, it was considered a risk for ESPN to devote all this time, with the best time periods, and our best talent, to the tournament,'' said Len DeLuca, a senior vice president of ESPN.

In three seasons, ESPN has done what CBS wouldn't or couldn't -- playing the semifinals on Friday and the final game on Sunday. (CBS had an awkward no-rest Saturday-Sunday format.) Plus it added a pay-per-view option for games not televised by ESPN or ESPN2, and a tournament selection show.

''We've been able to raise women's basketball to daily exposure during the tournament, which CBS could not do,'' said DeLuca, a former CBS executive. He said the N.C.A.A. has not yet asked to renegotiate the discount deal.